Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 165 Beneath the Dwarf Mountain
"crash"

As the soil and rocks slid down, several stones of various sizes slid off the rock face on one side of the winding mountain road outside the Funeral Valley.

A moment later, a telescope emerged from inside, cautiously surveying the surroundings.

After a while, the telescope was put away, and a ghost carrying a hunting bow silently crawled out and climbed all the way to the top of the cliff. It hid in the canopy of a large tree and quietly observed its surroundings.

"It seems we've escaped the encirclement," Yun Lan, who was controlling the undead, whispered inside the cave.

"Mr. Gerta, please be careful on your journey," Cheng Lang said as a final instruction inside the tunnel.

Don't worry about me.

Gerta gave Yavso one last look. "You all need to be careful. I'll meet up with you as soon as possible."

Let's set off quickly!

Before Cheng Lang could finish speaking, Fan Hart had already manipulated the digging beetle to break through the last layer of rock.

Once the digging beetle retreated and made way, Gerta gave a sharp tug on the reins, urging the moose pulling the cart to run off.

The moose-drawn cart was loaded with a small amount of food, and of course, the wolf-like sailor Kruch was also sitting inside.

Hidden inside the hunting tent by the carriage door were all the elves and the rest of the little sailors.

Before the moose cart disappeared from sight, the gold-digging beetle controlled by Van Hart immediately blocked the newly opened hole with grayish-white foam after the undead archer returned, thus blocking Yavso's view as well.

As for concerns
Yafso wasn't worried at all. She had just given Gerta a lot of glass bottles filled with spores, and the elves had already been distributed with the captured weapons.

"It's time for us to set off."

As Cheng Lang completely blocked the cave entrance, he gave the order, and everyone immediately climbed into the moose cart that could barely fit the five of them.

The task of driving in the tunnel was naturally handed over to Fanhart. Now, after streamlining the team, only the five of them plus one half-undead remained to head to Dwarf Mountain and the Elf Duchy.

That archer undead can only be considered half a spirit, since he can't communicate like Fanhart.

"So, should we go to the Elf Kingdom first or go find the treasure?"

Yafso fiddled with the two treasure maps in her hand and asked, "These two treasure maps were previously kept by Gerta."

"I think we should head to the Elven Kingdom as soon as possible."

Yun Lan said, "This will enhance your combat capabilities and make our treasure hunt easier."

“I think we should go find the treasure first,” Shenba rarely expressed his opinion.

"Why?" Cheng Lang asked before Yun Ji could say anything.

"Since that spiderweb of fate keeps binding us..."

Shenba explained matter-of-factly, "Then let it wait for us. Maybe if we waste some time in Dwarf Mountain, we can avoid a lot of trouble."

“Shenba, I actually think what you said makes sense,” Yafuso said, her eyes wide. “I also think we don’t need to rush.”

"And you?" Cheng Lang asked Yun Ji.

"It's rare for Shenba to be so clever."

Yun Ji agreed, "I also think we can try to avoid some trouble."

"But what if war breaks out?"

"Once war breaks out, the Elven Duchy will probably focus all its attention on dealing with the external enemy."

Yun Ji said, "Although someone impersonated an elf and attacked Funeral Valley, I don't think the Elf Duchy will really be completely divided up because of this. Even if that's the case, it will probably take a long time of fighting and maneuvering."

“I’m worried that many other people are also eyeing the sacred tree.”

Yun Lan said, "Or rather, including that Miss Yun Hai, including Panini, including the mastermind behind those ghost ships."

"Yun Hai probably won't."

Yun Ji shook her head. "It's not that I trust her, but she has already gained the approval of the Verdant Sacred Tree, so she doesn't seem to need to."

I reserve my opinion.

Yun Lan said, "Let the captain decide where to go first."

"Let's go to Dwarf Mountain first."

Cheng Lang said, "Didn't Mr. Fan Hart say that he would only remember the third prophecy when he got to Dwarf Mountain? I'd like to hear what the third prophecy says first."

“That is indeed an attractive reason,” Yun Lan nodded, seemingly accepting Cheng Lang’s decision.

"And there's another reason."

Cheng Lang shook the pendant hanging around his neck. "I always felt that this beetle would save our lives at a critical moment, so I think it's necessary to give it enough fuel first."

In other words, I have no intention of taking any risks until Mr. Gerta arrives in the elven capital with a ship full of bottles of fish oil.

“In that case, let’s go to Dwarf Mountain first.” Yun Lan was completely convinced.

While they were chatting, Van Hart had already driven the moose wagon, which was much faster than a horse-drawn carriage, back to the underground of Funeral Valley. Then, he drove along a pre-dug tunnel to the other end of Funeral Valley.

"Go out from here, and you'll reach the Beast Corpse Territory."

As Fan Hart stopped the carriage, he pulled out his net and with a gentle swipe, caught a crab-shaped undead.

Without any explanation, Fan Hart grabbed the undead and crumpled it up haphazardly, then asked Cheng Lang for the firefly pendant and shoved it inside.

However, Fan Hart did not take out the digging beetle. Instead, after returning the pendant to Cheng Lang, he kindly reminded them to sit tight.

Before anyone could say anything, Fanhart had already forcefully swung the reins and struck the rump of the tall, strong moose with its thick, tree-like antlers, making a crisp "smack!" sound.

Immediately, the moose took off running as fast as it could, while lowering its head and pointing its antlers at the rock wall at the end of the tunnel that had not yet been cleared!

"Fan Hart! Are you crazy?!" Cheng Lang and the others exclaimed.

"No animal's horns are for decoration!"

Fan Hart excitedly responded loudly to Cheng Lang and the others' doubts, and at the same time, he forcefully swung the reins he was holding.

Suddenly, the moose accelerated again and slammed into the rock wall before Cheng Lang and the others could jump out of the vehicle.

"Wow!"

Amidst the flying rocks, the last layer of rock, only palm-thick, was easily smashed by the moose pulling the cart.

At the same time, Fan Hart also threw an inconspicuous little stone into the cave behind him.

As the small stone clanged and clattered, a large amount of grayish-white foam also surged out, blocking the hole that had been smashed open behind them in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, Fan Hart also drove the moose cart along the mountain road into the depths of the Beast Corpse Territory, leaving only the still-burning firelight of the small town behind him and the red miasma that was slowly drifting.

Compared to the town of Funeral Valley before the siege, the mountain road on this side of the valley is much more desolate, with lush weeds and mutilated corpses visible from time to time.

Of course, there was also the increasingly strong stench of corpses, and the occasional roars of wild beasts reaching his ears. "I can clearly feel that something is calling me from the direction of Dwarf Mountain," Van Hart murmured, his voice so soft that no one but himself could hear him.

Compared to the hardworking coachman Fan Hart, the people in the carriage were equally vigilant.

Since this place was right next to the Funeral Valley behind them, Cheng Lang, Yun Ji, and Shen Ba all chose to stay outside, keeping an eye on the back and left and right sides respectively.

As for Yafso and Yunlan, they felt relieved and hid in their hunting tent to prepare food and drink for everyone—their gluttonous captain was hungry again.

As they sped along, the valley behind them was soon shrouded in mist and mountains as dawn broke. The mountain path beneath their feet had become so rugged that it was impossible to continue traveling by moose cart.

“Captain, let’s use the burrowing beetles to get around. There are plenty of undead here that we can use to drive and consume them,” Van Hart suggested.

Cheng Lang was quite straightforward, taking off the firefly necklace and handing it to the other person. Shenba also put away the moose carriage after everyone got off.

Objectively speaking, if this burrowing beetle isn't used for digging, its speed is actually quite good; at least it's much more comfortable than walking.

“At our current speed, we might only need three days at most to reach Dwarf Mountain,” Yun Lan said, looking at a tall mountain that was faintly visible in the distance. “That’s Dwarf Mountain.”

Following the direction the other person was pointing, Cheng Lang, who was holding bread and roasted meat in his hand, asked in surprise while chewing vigorously, "Is Dwarf Mountain really that tall?"

He had imagined what Dwarf Mountain would be like, but it wasn't until he crossed Funeral Valley and rounded those already towering mountains that he truly realized how high and exaggerated the mountain was.

That was a towering wall that seemed to connect with the sky! A wall that stretched as far as the eye could see on one side!
“That’s the highest point on the Star Sea Continent,” Yun Lan explained. “At the top of that mountain, it’s difficult to even breathe.”

"Where does this mountain end?" Cheng Lang asked, pointing to the side of the Dwarf Mountain that extends into the mainland, which seemed to be the highest point of the mountain.

"It is the boundary river that divides the Elf Kingdom and the Frost Kingdom. It is said that the Valkyrie drew it with her halberd."

Yavso answered the question, "That river is so wide that even if the Valkyrie and the Thorn were connected end to end, they couldn't block it."

"Since it's this wide, then it's not..."

"The upper and lower reaches of that river are made up of countless tributaries flowing through other countries. Those river channels are either not wide enough, not deep enough, or have rapid currents, or have many waterfalls along the way, even though many tributaries eventually flow into the Star Sea."

Yun Lan sighed, "It's like it was done on purpose, deliberately preventing the Elf Duchy from going out to sea by ship."

"What's on the other side of this dwarf mountain?" Cheng Lang continued to ask.

"The altitude gradually decreases at the other end, eventually ending up right in the territory of Lebanon."

Yun Ji explained, "That place is also right next to the entrance to the Desolate Ice Sea from the other side."

"Gaotai Port and Gaoqiang Port"

Yun Lan nodded. "The former is in Lika, and the latter is in the Frost Duchy. It takes only one day to travel between the two ports via the Desolate Ice Sea."

"But there are terrifying blizzards there."

Van Hart, who was in charge of piloting the Tunneling Beetle, also joined the conversation, saying, "Few ships dare to challenge that route. In my and Eleanor's time, everyone used the route through the extreme icy seas to prove the reliability of ships and crews."

“There were countless Iron Oak Blood Cores in that era,” Yun Ji sighed, “but now, Iron Oak Blood Cores are just a legendary thing.”

“Back then, I had a full 10 of them on my ship, which was half of the Lebanese treasury’s stock,” Yun Lan said.

"I used to have over a hundred of them."

Cheng Lang muttered to himself that no one would believe this nonsense, but even so, his heart was still bleeding.

If he hadn't acted quickly back then, he could have lived a life of luxury even with just those hundred or so Iron Oak Blood Cores.

While they were busy making their way, Gerta and Krug, who was pretending to be his grandson, were also driving the moose wagon back to Panhorn day and night.

With the help of Krugki, the local bigwig, they bought a full basket of food and set off again without stopping, hurrying towards Frostflower Town.

Meanwhile, news of the elven ambush at Funeral Valley, spread through an unknown source, had reached Wolfskin Town. From there, it reached the capitals of the Elf Duchy and the Frost Duchy, and was subsequently carried by spies and messengers to the Starsea Continent and even the Starsea Islands—and the Sea of ​​Despair.

Amidst the undercurrents of the entire continent and ocean, as the burrowing beetle squeezed the fifth undead it had stuffed into its body into a deep sleep, it finally brought Cheng Lang and the others to the foot of Dwarf Mountain.

Strictly speaking, it's still about half a day's journey from here to the foot of Dwarf Mountain, but along the way, they've lost count of how many adventurers they've encountered.

These adventurers were mostly orcs, often in groups of three to five, with a few even traveling alone. However, judging from the various sentimental phrases they carved on the rock walls along the way, it was clear that they had "fallen in love with the wrong person."

Under the cover of night, Fan Hart manipulated the gold-digging beetle to enlarge the observation hole in the tunnel so that Cheng Lang and the others could crawl out. Then he manipulated the beetle to seal the observation hole, reducing it to only the size of a fist.

Finally, he turned the gold-digging beetle into a pendant inside the tunnel and handed it to Cheng Lang outside through the fist-sized hole. Only then did he crawl into the firefly pendant where he would reside.

"Let's go too," Cheng Lang said, having put on the pendant.

Upon hearing this, Shenba quickly used a readily available stone to block the last hole, and then carried a spiked club that he had seized in the Burial Valley and walked at the front.

"There are so many people here," Yafso, who had transformed into a fox-like beastman, murmured.

That's Dwarf Mountain.

Yun Lan said, "Nobody knows what's hidden inside. Even if there's nothing there, you can still find a lot of valuable things on the adventurers who die inside."

"At least half of them seem to be love-struck fools."

Before Yun Ji could finish speaking, a four-person adventure team, brandishing their weapons, blocked a lone adventurer who had been seemingly admiring the love-themed stone carvings on the rock wall.

"You've fallen for a pointy-eared idiot; you won't be able to cross the Dwarf Mountain by yourself."

The one blocking the way seemed to be from the pig tribe, as evidenced by the pair of pig ears on his head that looked like they were meant to be served cold.

"Would you like to travel with me?"

The man who was stopped asked a question in return. He was completely covered in a black robe, so Cheng Lang and the others behind him could not see his face at all, and could only confirm that he was a man by his voice.

"Travel together? Hahahaha!"

The lead pig-tribe adventurer laughed and said, "No need for companionship. What I'm trying to say is, since you can't cross the Dwarf Mountain alone, why don't you lend us your valuables? If you head back now, you'll at least survive."

"puff!"

Before the man blocking the way could finish speaking, the one hiding in the robe swiftly and decisively chopped off his head with a single stroke!

"Pfft!"

Just as the boar orc's corpse fell to the ground, the person hidden in the robe had already slit the necks of the other three with a knife!

"Are you with them?" the man asked without turning his head as he sheathed his sword.

We're just watching the show.

Cheng Lang glanced behind him and, seeing that there was no one else besides them, continued, "Of course, if you're planning to rob us, don't waste your time."

"I have no interest in robbery," the man said, and then slung his enormous backpack over his shoulder and started walking.

"Sir, you forgot to take your spoils," Shenba kindly reminded him.

"It's yours," the person said, waving his hand dismissively.

"What a strange person," was the same thought that popped into Cheng Lang's mind.

(End of this chapter)